


three flights down

by WonderTwinC



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-19
Updated: 2015-10-01
Packaged: 2018-04-21 13:05:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4830143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WonderTwinC/pseuds/WonderTwinC
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You would never let me blame myself. [a series of ficlets]</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“Felicity told me you were up here,” Sara plopped down on the rooftop beside Oliver, dangling her legs over the edge of the building without care. The same roof where she’d been shot full of arrows and plummeted to her death in the street below. 

 “You shouldn’t even be alive,” Oliver whispered, his voice hoarse, like he’d been crying. Or trying not to, at least. “You died, right here, because of this- this  _thing_  that we do. You stood here and said goodbye to Laurel and then my sister put three arrows in your chest and you - you  _died_  and what did I do?” His hands curled into fists against his thighs until his scarred knuckles turned white in protest. “I stood here and gave your killer everything he ever wanted in this world.”

Sara placed one of her hands over his, squeezing. “What happened to me - it’s not your fault. It was never your fault,” Sara offered. Her hand smoothed along his shoulder and to the back of his neck in a familiar gesture. Her fingers scratched gently at his scalp as she cradled his head, guiding him to look at her. So much had happened in the year she’d been gone. Her friends had suffered so much,  _lost_  so much, but Sara knew in her soul that no one felt it quite the same as Oliver did.

“Sara-”

“No, just - listen to me, okay?  _I_ chose to be with you, on the boat, on the freighter. Those were my decisions, Ollie, just like returning to the League was my decision. You letting Malcolm go, letting him live… I don’t blame you for that either. Right and wrong, it’s not always black and white. You did what you did to save the people you love and if I’d been in your shoes, I couldn’t say that I would have done any different,” she confessed softly, stroking her thumb along his cheek. “What matters is that we’re both here, right now.”

Oliver exhaled and closed his eyes, leaning into Sara’s touch, letting himself drown in the familiarity of her voice washing over him. 

She smiled. “Let’s be happy, Ollie, just once in this lifetime.”


	2. i don't deserve your love but you give it anyways

“Ollie?” **  
**

She stood just inside the door, staring out at the balcony where Oliver had taken up residence. The moonlight illuminated his silhouette and in the darkness she could see that he’d left his shirt behind in the hotel room. His pants hung low on his hips - teasing her with a glimpse of far more skin than was acceptable in public. She pulled the duvet tighter around her body as the cold air nipped at her skin - chilling her cheeks.

Oliver didn’t seem to notice the cold in the air with his back to her. She watched as his hands flexed against the railing.

“What are we doing, Sara?” he sounded so dejected, so lost, that it tore at her insides because she knew that look- that tone of voice.

It haunted her dreams and permeated her soul. She would look in the mirror and see it in her eyes and know that the darkness had swallowed her heart as well, but she wasn’t finished.

They weren’t finished. Not yet.  “We’re surviving,” she replied softly, staring at the constellation of scars that scattered across his back - old and new and familiar.

She offered her hand, seeing the answer in his eyes before he reached out. His fingers were just like hers - calloused and raw in places, palms dirty with blood, sweat and tears.

Sara smiled. “But mostly, I think we’re just trying to live.” 


End file.
